Doha, Oct 6 (IANS) India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a “fruitful” meeting with his Qatar counterpart Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, in Doha on Monday, to further strengthen bilateral trade and investment ties between the two countries.

“We discussed ways to increase India-Qatar bilateral trade and also reaffirmed our commitment to further strengthen the multifaceted partnership across trade, investment, and strategic cooperation, opening immense avenues for greater collaboration,” Piyush Goyal wrote on X.

Goyal also co-chaired the India-Qatar Ministerial Joint Commission on Economic and Commercial Cooperation with H.E. Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, Minister of Commerce and Industry of Qatar.

“Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to deepening the India-Qatar partnership by building on our strong bilateral trade. We also agreed to further intensify cooperation to achieve the trade and investment goals set by our leadership during the visit of His Highness the Amir of Qatar to India in February this year,” Goyal further stated.

Goyal, who is on a two-day visit to Qatar, also addressed the inaugural meeting of the India-Qatar Joint Business Council, along with Qatar’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, H.E. Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani.

“Encouraged businesses on both sides to build on our strategic partnership and cultural connect to further deepen India-Qatar economic ties, and emphasised how our robust economies provide greater synergies across various sectors for shared growth and prosperity,” the Indian minister said.

Besides, Goyal met Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani, Governor of Qatar Central Bank and Chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority & the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority.

The minister said he held productive discussions on ways to further deepen trade, investment and financial cooperation between India and Qatar.

Earlier on August 28, India and Qatar held a high-level meeting in Delhi focused on the opportunities for enhancing Qatari investments in India, especially in sectors like infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, transport, logistics, food processing, health, semiconductors and finance.

The discussions were held to move ahead with the commitment of Qatar to invest $10 billion and open an office of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) in India, made during the State visit of the Amir of the State of Qatar to India in February 2025.

In this context, the two countries decided to further promote discussions for investments by QIA and other Qatari entities, focusing on key sectors and specific projects and companies. The Qatari side conveyed that they see various opportunities for investments in India given the country’s economic growth and technological development.

QIA has made investments in a number of sectors in India, such as retail, utilities, media, housing, healthcare and realty. The Indian community in Qatar has also made investments in Qatar, especially in the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector.

–IANS

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